A World Beyond Me: The World of Sanctuary
by Rahn Mechabot VII
Summary: The WBM crew (world beyond me) are sucked into another world where the powers of hell and heaven clash on the plain of mortals. The world of Diablo
1. Disclaimer

Okay, I've decided that my POV and other stories in progress are going to be put on hold for a while. I have to get this one out of my head first. This fic is about the six people from the ~:World Beyond Me:~ fic by Kawaii Karen. Namely herself, myself, C-4, Kit Kat, Serena, and Nokame. This is about how we are yet again sucked through a vortex of some kind, but land in a totally different world from Mobius or Earth. A world where the powers of heaven and hell clash on the plain of mortals. The world of Diablo.  
  
Now, I do not own Diablo or Sonic The Hedgehog. They are copyright to Blizzard Entertainment and SEGA. All ~:World Beyond Me:~ characters belong to their original creators and no one else.  
  
Okay, now that the Disclaimer is done, here's what class the six of us will be.  
  
Bell - Sorceress  
  
C-4 - Barbarian  
  
Kitkat - Paladin  
  
Serena - Amazon  
  
Nokame - Necromancer  
  
Rahn - Druid  
  
There isn't going to be any assassin characters, so don't even bother asking. Okay, I think that covers everything. Now, let our adventure in the world of Diablo begin! 


	2. Welcome to Sanctuary

Act I - Chapter I- Wecome To Sanctuary  
  
  
  
It was a peaceful, normal day for the six of us. If you can call it normal that is. You see, us six, namely Bell, C-4, Nokame, Kitkat, Serena, and I, were sucked into the Sonic Universe about a few months ago, and our bodies were changed to look like one of our fan characters. Bell was a white fox with some cyan streaksgoing through her fur here and there and didn't have a tail. C-4 was a yellowish grey echidna that was armed with a sword and pistols and, as I could tell, three voices in his head. Nokameko, or Nokame as we called him, was koopa turtle and he was the intelectual one of our group. KitKat is a red furred cat with blue jeans, a white baseball cap, and white sneakers. He's the crazy and random person of our group. Then, their's Serena. She looked a hell of a lot like Maria, and is the cousin to Eggman, in this form that is. Then, there is me. (If any of you have read my work or seen a picture of my character, you know what I look like, so I'm not gonna go in to detail about me.)  
  
All six of us were sucked here, and since then, we've found a way to travel to here and back to our world. Me and Kit Kat seem to be the only ones that can be in Mobian form in our world though. He can put on that white cap and turn into his form on Earth. Me, I'm like permanently. Which, I don't mind a bit. Anyway, we were all walking down the street in Station Square. We had decided that all of us were going to just spend the day together and hang out. First, we were going to Twinkle Park, then we would visit the Chao Garden, then sneak into the Casino and gamble a bit, then go out and eat with what money we had left.  
  
"So.how long are we gonna stay at Twinkle Park?" asked Serena.  
  
"Well, two to three hours sounds pretty good to me. How about you guys?" said Nokame. We all agreed to that as we rounded the corner and headed towards the front gate.  
  
"This is going to be so much fun!" said Bell as she skipped down the sidewalk. I had to admit, even though she did a few childish things like this, she looked rather cute doing it.  
  
"Yeah, that is, if someone doesn't suddenly decide to kick the roller coaster into overdrive" said C-4 as he looked at Nokame.  
  
"Hey, that little brat deserved it! Nobody calls this koopa slow and gets away with it" said Nokame.  
  
We all chuckled a bit as we walked down the sidewalk. Then suddenly, I got this strange feeling. My psychic abilities were telling me something, and I stopped in my tracks and glanced around the area. The others noticed I had stopped and did so too and looked at me. I had already told them that I was psychic, and they didn't like it when I started doing this.  
  
"Something wrong Rahn?" aske Serena.  
  
"Yeah, something just doesn't feel right. There is something in the air around here....something evil." C-4 took out his pistol and loaded it up with a couple of rounds.  
  
"I swear Rahn, if this is another of your damn false alarms.."  
  
"It's not" I said, cutting him off.  
  
"Hey guys, look!" yelled Bell as she pointed towards the ground. Right below us, a really familiar looking red portal was opening up under us!  
  
"Everyone jump away!" yelled Nokame, but it was to late to escape. The portal shot open and engulfed all of us. We fell into the red pit, and felt the familiar sensation of falling. Then, it closed behind us.  
  
"Anyone have any idea where this might lead?!" yelled C-4.  
  
"Not a clue, but the fact that it's all red, yellow, and orange around us doesn't make it any bit comforting!" yelled Serena.  
  
"Let's just pray that the exit isn't in the air!" yelled Kitkat. I held my head and as we fell through the portal, or gate, or whatever it was. The evil that was in this thing, it was enormous! I had never felt anything like this before! Needless to say, it about scared me to death. At least the others couldn't feel the sensation.  
  
"Hey everyone, look!" yelled Bell as she pointed towards the exit we were rapidly apporaching.  
  
"Please don't let it be in the air, please don't let it be in the air, please don't let it be in the air.." Kitkat prayed. We finally reached the exit and, sure enough, we were in the air. We all screamed as we fell through the grey skys and down to the ground below.  
  
"BAD DAY, BAD DAY, BAD DAY, BAD DAY!!!!" yelled Kitkat as we hit the ground. Nokame hit the ground first, but was protected due to the fact he was inside his shell. Bell hit next, landing not to far away from Nokame. Serena managed to cushion herself by landing 'on' Nokame. Me and Kitkat fell into a nearby tree, and C-4 had managed to land on his back on top of a large rock. Me and Kitkat got ourselve out of the tree, and went to check on the others. I hope they aren't to injured.  
  
I ran up to Bell first and offered my hand for her, and she gratefully took it.  
  
"You alright?" I asked her.  
  
"If you call hitting the ground at twenty miles and hour and falling a hundred feet from the air alright, then yeah, I guess so. Come on, let's go help the others."  
  
Everyone except C-4 seemed to be alright. It took us all to finally get him to move. I actually felt sorry for him. I mean, that had to hurt like hell! After everyone was up, we looked at our surroundings. It was dark and cloudy, and looked like rain. The grass was rather green, except for a few dirt patches, and there was a range of mountains not to far off.  
  
"Anybody have any idea where we might be?" asked C-4.  
  
"Wow, is it creepy out here. I don't even hear any birds or anything, just the sound of the wind" said Serena. She was right, this was very unsettleing. I glanced at everyone else, and they all had the same look. A look of uneasiness.  
  
"Hey, there's a path over there!" said Bell. She scampered over to the path and took a good look at where it led to. The rest of us joined her a second later. She looked towards the mountains, where one directionled, and towards the opposite path away from the mountains.  
  
"I vote we walk 'away' from the mountains. All in favor?" said Nokame. We all raised our hands, then started our trek away from the mountains. There was something about this place though, something familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it. As we walked, we noticed a small cave that the path forked to. Nobody wanted to go into it, so we moved on. Not to long after, it started to get dark, and I got the feeling we were being watched.  
  
"Anybody else hear that?" asked Kitkat, who was now grasping hold of his frying pan rather tightly.  
  
"Your just being paranoid. Just because it's spooky doesn't mean that there is something out here" said C-4.  
  
"I think we should stop and rest for a moment. I'm getting kind of worn out, and it is starting to get dark. We should probably consider making camp here or something" said Nokame.  
  
"Sounds good. Kitkat, why don't you start a fire and dig out whatever you may have in those pockets of yours?" I asked  
  
"Sure thing, I just need some fire wood."  
  
"Why don't you and C-4 go out and get some Rahn? We'll wait for you right here" said Bell. I was about to protest, but she was giving me the classic puppy eye look, and her being a fox and all, it just amplified the effect. How could I resist something like that.  
  
"*sigh* Alright. Come on C-4, let's go" The two of us headed into the woods that the path we were walking on was running through. We got a little ways in before we both got the sensation again that we were being followed. As I looked around, I caught something out of the corner of my eye as it dashed back into the darkness. I threw my hand infront of C-4, and he stopped.  
  
"Hey,what gives?" he asked. I moved my eyes to meet his, and I told him flat out.  
  
"We are not alone." Right when I said that, a small group of creatures leaped from the shadows and stood in front of us. They were red, impish looking creatures with black hair pulled back into ponytails, and weilded small swords and sheilds. They were also about the size of a normal mobain.  
  
"Dude, what the hell are those!" yelled C-4. I took a good look at them, and I finally placed where we were.  
  
"Nothing good! Just kill the little basterds!" I told him.  
  
"You don't need to tell me twice!" C-4 withdrew the sword he had and charged at the group. I did the same and followed him. He managed a blow against one, successfully killing the creature, and its other comrads quickly ran off.  
  
"Well damn! They are just nothing but little cowards, huh?"  
  
"They'll be back in a second. Cowardness is their nature, and they'll regroup here in a moment" I told him. He looked over at me with an arched eyebrow.  
  
"How do you know?" he asked. The group of creatures returned before I could answer.  
  
"I'll tell you later. Look, everytime we kill one ,the rest will run away and regroup. We have to kill as many as we can before they run" I said.  
  
"Okay, You've got it!" C-4 put away his sword, and pulled out his gun and opened fire. He managed a headshot on five out of the seven remaining creatures. Seeing a weapon like this must have scared them good, because they didn't return this time.  
  
"Yeah! Who's bad? Me!" said C-4. I grinned and rolled my eyes.  
  
"Okay, let's get that firewood, and take one of these things back with us" I said.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"I just figured out where we are, and this will help prove to you guys that I'm right. Now, come on."  
  
We both gathered the firewood, and brought the carcass of one of the small creatures back with us, dragging it by the ponytail as not to get any blood on us. As we arrived back, the others were there waiting, and Serena jumped up to greet us.  
  
"What took you guys? We heard gunfire and..." she stopped when her eyes fell upon the body I was dragging, and feaked out.  
  
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?" she yelled.  
  
"Dude, what is that thing?!" yelled Kitkat.  
  
"Fascinating" said Nokame. Bell just stared blankly at it, not showing any kind of expression, but she a hell of a lot more white than she usually was. I could even tell that in this darkness, as it was now completely dark.  
  
"I'll tell you guys in a moment. Kitkat, get the fire started." I said. After he got the fire started, we all sat in a circle around it, everyone on guard for anything.  
  
"Alright Rahn, now tell us, what the heck is that?" said Bell, indicating the dead body I had laying nearby.  
  
"That, my friends, is a demon called a Fallen" I said.  
  
"A demon?" asked Nokame.  
  
"I knew demons were ugly, but damn" said C-4.  
  
I continued to tell them all about the 'Fallen,' and I also told them my hyphoisis.  
  
"Are any of you familiar with the PC game called 'Diablo'?" I asked. They all nodded their heads no.  
  
"Well, I believe that that portal has sucked us from Mobius, to the world of that game" I said  
  
"You mean like when we were pulled to Mobius?" asked Kitkat.  
  
"Sort of. But you see, we are more likely to die here than like when we were first sucked to Mobius" I stated.  
  
"Why do you say that?" asked Bell.  
  
"Because in the game, there are hundreds of these little bastereds" I pointed toward the dead fallen, "running amuck throughout the area. There are also many other types of hellish demons afoot as well, even some with the ability to use magic" I said. "And I'm betting that it's the same here."  
  
They all looked at eachother, then turned back towards me.  
  
"Maybe you should tell us the plot of this game" said Nokame. I continued to tell about how the forces of heaven and hell had been battleing for eons, and that the mortal plain, which is were man lived, was now their battle field. I told them that long ago, the three prime evils, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, were banished here to the mortal realm by the lesser evils, Azmodon, Belial, Andarial, and Durial. I explained everything from the capture of their spirits inside the souldstones given to the Horadrim mages by the Archangel Tyrael, up to the time of Diablo's escape from his soulstone. I told them about the warrior that beat Diablo under the passages beneath the town of Tristram, and how that same warrior had now become possessed by Diablo, and was adventuring out to free his two brothers in the east. I had told them everything I knew about the game.  
  
I finally finished an hour later, and they all stared at me with their mouths open in shock.  
  
"Wow." said Nokame.  
  
"So, is there anyway to get back to Mobius or Earth?" asked Bell.  
  
"Well, from what Rahn just said, the people here only have magic and medievil technology. I don't think they'd know how to make an interdimensional transporter or anything" said C-4.  
  
"Hey Rahn? You said that the whole area is infested with all kinds of demons. Is there any place safe that we could stay at? Because this path probably isn't going to keep us from harm" said Bell.  
  
"Well, that would be the Rogue Encampment further up the path away from the mountains. Their in charge of guarding the pass that heads east. It shouldn't be to far from here" I stated.  
  
"Okay then, let's eat something then head on to that camp!" said Serena. Kitkat cooked whatever he pulled out of his pockets. Things like a baked ham, biscuits, burgers, chiken, and such. We all ate our fill, then lit a few torches using some kerosene that Kitkat, for a reason I'd rather not know about, had on him. Then, we put the fire out, and started our trek towards the camp.  
  
On the way there, I told everyone not to take it to hard if they shoot at us first and ask questions later. They were more than likely going to mistake us for demons. Maybe Serena could talk our way into the camp, bacause she was the only one of us that was human. I also said that the Rogues were all made up of women and that there were only a few men in the camp, which would help Serena even more if she had to talk our way in.  
  
"Hey, is that the camp over there?" asked Nokame as he pointed ahead with his torch. There was a shabby looking fort ahead of us with tall log walls, and a glow from a fire in the middle of it. There were also a few torches by the entrance.  
  
"Yeah, that's it. Okay guys, don't freak out if they shoot at us, and let Serena try to do most of the talking, okay?" Everyone nodded, and we proceeded.  
  
As we walked up to the gates, there were two Rogues guarding the entrance. They immediately took notice of us, and aimed their bows at us.  
  
"Halt demons! You will advance no further!" yelled one of them. Serena quickly jumped out from behind us and comminced talking to them.  
  
"Wait, wait, don't shoot!" she yelled. The Rogues dropped their bows and stared at here somewhat perplexed. I grinned inwardly to myself, as I could here exactly what they were thinking. 'What is this girl doing traveling with a bunch of demons?'  
  
"Child, do you realize that you are being accompanied by demons, and that you have led them to our camp?" asked one of them.  
  
"Hey, I'm not a child! And yes, but they are not demons, their my friends! If they were demons, they probably would have killed me by now!" Serena yelled at them. She obviously didn't like being called a child.  
  
"Okay, then what is your business here?" asked the other Rogue. Serena glanced at me for help, and I communicated with her mentally.  
  
"Tell them we need to speak with their leader about a safe place to stay." I told her.  
  
"We need a safe place to stay, and we want to speak with your leader to see if it's okay" said Serena. The Rogues looked at eachother, and nodded.  
  
"Alright then. You come with me, the rest of you stay here. If you so much as do anything suspicious, consider yourselves as a few more tallies for the number of demons we've killed." She then left into the camp with Serena, leaving her friend to watch us.  
  
"I hope she can convince their leader to let us in" said Bell. She looked rather worried. Perhaps she was scared about the things that I had said earlier, or maybe she was worried about Serena, I don't know. I wasn't going to look into her head and find out though, because that would just be abusing my abilities. Then, I saw Kitkat reach into his pockets and pull out a stick of gum.  
  
"Umm, Kitkat, what are you doing?" I asked him as I noticed the Rogue had pointed her bow at him.  
  
"Chewing some gum to pass the time" he said as he put into his mouth an commensed chewing.  
  
"That's going to get you shot" warned Nokame. Kitkat had now blown a bubble, and had the Rogue on edge. Then, C-4 brought his hand around and popped the bubble in Kitkats face, causing the sticky goo to cover his whole head.  
  
C-4 started laughing, and the Rogue had let her bow down. Me, Bell, and Nokame couldn't help but laugh too as Kitkat tried his best to pull the gum from his fur.  
  
"Hey guys!" said Serena as she walked back towards us. Followed behind her was the Rogue from before, and an old women dressed in a purple cloak.  
  
"I've talked to the leader here, but she said she wanted to meet you first before she decided whether to let us stay" she said as she indicated the women in the cloak. I already knew her name as Akara.  
  
"These are your friends I take it" she asked Serena. Serena nodded, and Akara turned towards us. She made eye contact with each one of us, like she was trying to discern our intentions, which she was probably doing. After a few minutes, she smiled at all of us and started to talk.  
  
"Well, you all seem like good natured souls. I see no reason why you can't stay" she said. We all thanked her, and she introduced herself to us.  
  
"Now, I already know Serena here, but what might your names be?" she asked us.  
  
"I'm Bell."  
  
"I'm Nokameko, but I prefer Nokame among friends."  
  
"The name's C-4"  
  
"I'm Kitkat, and I don't mean the chocolate bar either!"  
  
"Kitkat, she wouldn't know what a Kit Kat Bar is, jeez! My name is Rahn, and It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Akara" I said. I got a few stares from everyone as I said this. They had never heard me so formal before.  
  
"Well then, now that inroductions are over, let us continue our conversation inside camp." Everyone followed Akara in. As we all entered, the others realized I was right about their being no men in the camp. There were only two! One was dressed in blue clothes and stood by the fire, trying to keep warm. The other was standing next to a caravan not to far off at the back of the camp and was counting a few coins in his hand.  
  
"Wow Rahn! You were right! This place is pretty much babe central, huh?" said C-4. This earned him a slap in the back of the head by both Bell and Serena. Akara led us to the fire at the center of the camp, and asked us to all sit down.  
  
"I know this isn't much, but this is the best we can do in these troubled times until we can reclaim our monestary" said Akara.  
  
"You mean this place here isn't you home?" asked Nokame.  
  
"For the time being it is home. You see, a few weeks ago, a dark wanderer travled through the pass that led into the east. We allowed him to go through our monestary, as it is the only safe route through the mountains. But, not long afterwards, our monestary was taken over by Andarial and her minions. We were unable to hold her army off, as she had caught us by surprise, and we were forced to retreat here and build this camp. Ever since, we have been fighting to relaim the monestary."  
  
"You were all forced from your home? That's terrible!" said Kitkat.  
  
"Things have gotten worse I'm afraid. Since our monestary is the gateway to the only safe pass through the mountains, trade as been cut off from the western kingdoms, and the deserts just passed the mountains. There have also been tales that Diablo, The Lord of Terror, is once again walking upon us. Given the recent events, it wouldn't surprise me if the tales were true."  
  
"Wow, this world sounds like it has really gone down the toilet huh?" asked C-4.  
  
"Yeah. I just wish there was something we could do to help" said Bell. To be honest, I didn't actually believe we had to help. Pretty soon, the heros from each of the character classes should be here pretty soon to help. I just hope they don't decide to scour us alive if they did come.  
  
"You know..." said Akara, pulling my attention back to her. "you six might be able help us."  
  
"Really? How?" asked Serena. Wait a minute, Akara can't be suggesting...  
  
"The six of you have a familiar auras of magic about you. I'm detecting the magical energy of a sorceress from one of you, and the energy of a paladin, and a few others. If you taped into this energy, you might be able to help us fight against Andarial!" said Akara. I was hoping she wasn't going to say that.  
  
Bell hoped up and down in excitement. "Wow, you mean we would be able to use magic, and do stuff like pulling rabbits out of a hat, or turning cards into doves, dissappearing in a cloud of smoke or." Akara threw her hand onto Bell's muzzle and clamped it shut.  
  
"While that all is a form of magic, it is not the same. If you are all willing to help us, we will supply you with whatever you need to start you off, and I will tell you what kind of traits and abilities would be more suitable for you to use" she said.  
  
"If we do this for you, will you find a way to send us back home to our world?" asked Nokame.  
  
"You all come from anothers world? Well, I guess that would explain the why we've never seen creature like you, or your odd way of dress. I will see what I can do. If I can't find a way, then maybe someone else in this world can."  
  
"Alright, then I'm in!" yelled Kitkat  
  
"Same here! Just point me towards this Andarial, I'll fill her full of lead!" said C-4 as he loaded his gun.  
  
"I guess I'll agree too, if it gets us all home" said Serena  
  
"This would be an interesting experience, count me in as well" said Nokame  
  
"I suppose I'm game, how about you Rahn? We could use someone like you that know what we are up against" said Bell. I looked at her for a few moments, then to the others. I guess I might as well. Besides, I may know just the person who could send us back if Akara couldn't, but we'd have to clear the monestary, go through the pass, and across the deserts of Aranoch to find out if he could.  
  
"Alright. I'll help too" I said. God, I hope we don't regret this.  
  
"Thank you very much for your help. Now, why don't you all get some rest, we will make preparations tomorrow" said Akara. She led us to an area where there were some empty tents we could use. However, there were only three, and that meant bunking up. Of course, Serena and Bell bunked up, so that left us four guys. C-4 and Kitkat decided that they'd share a tent, so that left me and Nokame in the third and remaining tent.  
  
The two of us went in and found the tent to be quite welcoming. There was a table at the opposite end of the entrance, and small place for a fire in the middle, a chair, and a feathered mattress on each side of the table.  
  
"I got dibs on the left bed" I said. I can only sleep if I fall asleep on my right side facing a wall.  
  
"Fine by me, I'll take the right" said Nokame.  
  
"Well, we better get our sleep for tomorrow, because it's going to be pure hell. Literally" I said while hoping into the bed. We said our goodnights, then drifted off to a peaceful slumber.  
  
  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
Okay, that was the first chapter. The next will have us clearing out the Den of Evil, and fighting Blood Raven. Now, before you all ask 'what's this doing in the Sonic section if Sonic isn't in it,' I'll tell you now. Sonic will make an entrance later in the fic, but it won't be for a while yet. Not until we get around to Act 4 or 5. So, I hope everyone enjoyed reading this. I would appreciate any reveiws, and I ask that there be no flames please. I don't enjoy them, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't either if I gave you one.  
  
Thanks a bunch, and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible.  
  
  
  
Rahn (Mechabot VII) 


	3. The Den of Evil

Okay, I fixed the problem in the disclaimer. There was a problem when it uploaded, and so it looked like I said that C-4 was going to be the sorceress. So, I fixed that problem. Oh, and another thing. I have decided that I will not be any particular character from the Diablo game. So, I won't be a druid, we're going to stick with the orignal five character classes, and myself.  
  
Reason being because I have my own powers with the Sword of Chaos. Chaos control, chaos slash, chaos beam, and any kind of other chaos attacks I can think of. Plus, the super and hyper form. Now, I know it sounds like I've got an advantage over the others, but in truth, I don't. It may start off that way, but as skills are acquired and used by them, we all become equally powerful. Plus, I think Diablo would be able to take on someone in a super form anyway.  
  
Now just sit back, relax, have some popcorn, read this chapter, and watch the chaos unfold.  
  
  
  
Chapter II - The Den of Evil  
  
  
  
  
  
I walked outside the tent I had stayed in the previous night. Nokame was still sleeping, and as I walked out, I could see that C-4 and Bell were already up. Serena and Kitkat must still be asleep as well. As I walked to the large fire in the middle of the camp, I chilly air of the morning hit me hard. I was already shivering a bit. I should have suspected as much, being close to the mountains and all. As I continued walking towards the fire, I noticed that C-4 and Bell were talking to one of the only two men in the camp. Well, non-mobian men that is.  
  
"Morning Rahn! Sleep well?" asked Bell in here usual perky mood.  
  
"I suppose I slept okay" I said as I took a seat beside her. "I see your making friends with Warriv here?" I said indicating the man dressed in blue sitting near C-4.  
  
"Yeah. Warriv, this is Rahn. Rahn, meet Warriv" said C-4. Warriv extened his hand and I shook it.  
  
"It's a pleasure meeting you Rahn. These two here have spoken about how you know so much about this world, even though your from another. I was wondering if you could help me with a dilemma" said Warriv.  
  
"Let me guess, you need to get your caravan to Lut Gholein, but since Andarial has control of the monestary, your stuck here. Don't worry, me and my friends are heading out later today with the intention of helping the rogues get back the monestary. Don't worry about it." I told him. He looked rather stunned that I knew what he was talking about, so I just told him I was pychic and read his mind. I'd rather not tell him I knew this all from a game. I'd have to explain it to every other person in this camp, and then they'd probably freak. Plus, I didn't want to get their hopes up 'if' we managed not to succeed.  
  
It wasn't long until the others woke up, then we all had a small breakfast out of whatever kind of food Kitkat pulled from his pockets. A few of the rogues standing nearby looked at him perplexed, trying to figure out how he could store so many items, even things that wouldn't fit, inside his pockets. After we finished, Akara came up to us and sat down.  
  
"As I've told you all before, I sensed strong atributes from you last night. I sensed the elemental abilities of a Sorceress, and the holy strengh of a Paladin. I have had Kashya" she motioned to a rogue nearby, who was the military commander of the rogues. "lay out these items her on the ground nearby that will help start you off. For any other needs, such as selling, buying, and repairs, you will have to see Charsi, our blacksmith."  
  
We all looked at the items on the ground. They were all weapons and small sheilds. There was a staff, a short sword, hand axe, some javelins, a wand, and four buckler sheilds.  
  
"Wow, that stuff looks cool!" said Serena.  
  
"Now," started Akara. "I will tell you which kind of trait suits you best according to your attributes. The kind of weapon you use will depend on which trait you have. Now C-4, if you will please come here and stand up in front of me"  
  
C-4 did so and walked up to her. Because Akara was sitting down, he was practically at eye level with her. She looked him up and down, turned his head, and basically did things that a doctor would do at a check up.  
  
"You seem to have the abilities of a Barbarian hidden inside you. You seem more suited to hand to hand combat than the others I sense. The best weapons to suit you for the moment would be the hand axe and a buckler"  
  
C-4 grinned ear to ear, and said his thanks to Akara, then collected the axe and sheild.  
  
"Must be an echidna thing. You know, having the strengh and vitality to stand hand to hand fighting" said Nokame.  
  
"Yeah, well he certainly eats like one, I give him that!" said Kitkat. C- 4 smacked him upside the head with the buckler sheild he got, and Kitkat fell to the ground. He got back up rubbing his head, cursing under his breath as he did so.  
  
About half an hour later, everyone had a weapon. Serena was more suited in learning the skill of an Amazon, so she was given the javelins and a buckler sheild. Later one, she should be able to use bows and crossbows. So, she's going to be the one hanging in the back shooting more than likely. Kitkat, to everyones surprise, came out as the Paladin! Now, I never saw that coming. He could use holy magicks and such, and cast auras that will help any others he would be traveling with, namely us. He got the short sword the third buckler sheild.  
  
Nokame was given the wand and the last buckler sheild. This meant he would be a Necromancer. If I remember the skills correctly, he would specialize in curseing his enemies, summoning minions, and casting poison & bone spells. I can tell you this right now, he isn't going to be welcomed to well later on if we have to travel to Lut Gholein with Warriv.  
  
Finally, Bell was given the staff, making her the Sorceress. So, she had the ability to cast fire, lightening, and ice spells. Basically, she was pretty much going to be unstoppable when she develops the skills fully, because nothing will be able to get close enough to hit her before she kills it!  
  
"Wow, some of this stuff is cool!" said Serena as she looked at the javelin she had and twirled it between her fingers.  
  
"You said it, this sword rocks!" said Kitkat, giving it a few practice swipes. "No substitute for my trusty frying pan though!"  
  
Nokame looked away from the wand he was admiring and looked towards where the weapons used to be. There were none left.  
  
"Hey Akara? What about Rahn here? You haven't told him what he specializes in yet, and there don't seem to be any more weapons to choose from there." Hey, he was right! What's the deal here?  
  
"Well, I have tried to find a trait Rahn could specialize in, but I havn't found any. He has a very unique aura of energy about him that I have never felt before. Whatever kind it is, it isn't magical in any way. It's very odd" said Akara. Okay, so I can't use magic like the others. That means I'll have to rely completely on my fighting skills. But that other energy she is picking up..could she be meaning my sword, and the powers I have with it? I unsheathed the Sword of Chaos from my back, and as I did so, the blue flame that it gives off ignated to life, licking up and dwon the emerald blade.  
  
"You wouldn't happen to be sensing this kind of energy, would you?" I asked Akara. She stared at the sword with wide eyes.  
  
"Yes, that is the same energy! That must mean your abilities lie within your weapon and fighting techniques, this is unheard of!" she said. I grinned to myself, now realizing what I could do now. She was detecting the chaos energy of my sword. I could already fire attacks from the sword itself, but I had yet to learn to do it without having to weild it. I could probably even go super, but I haven't attempted to try.  
  
"So, Rahn won't be trying to learn any kind of spells or techniques like the rest of us?" asked Bell.  
  
"Precisely" answered Akara.  
  
"Wow, that blows" said C-4  
  
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine" I told them.  
  
"Well then, now that you have weapons, we can send you out on you're your first quest." Said Akara.  
  
"Let me guess, go kill Andarial, right?" asked Serena  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. You don't have the strengh yet to contend with Andarial, but you will in time" said Akara. C-4 snapped his fingers in dissappointment.  
  
"Damn, I was looking forward to shooting a few slugs into her" said C-4.  
  
Akara cleared her throat a bit to get our attention back. "Our Rogue scouts have reported that there is a cave nearby holding a great demonic presense inside. Many of our finest archers have lost their lives trying to cleanse it, and now I fear that these creatures will soon be massing for an attack against our encampment. Consider this first quest a test of your bravery and early combat skills. I want you to go to the 'Den of Evil,' and destroy all the beasts inside before they decide to attack the camp."  
  
Kitkat rubbed the back of his head with an arched eye brow. "Well.that doesn't sound to hard."  
  
"If it's just full of those little red imp things, it shouldn't be a problem" said C-4. Akara gave us the directions to the Den of Evil and, surprisingly, it was that same cave we saw before when we first got here! What are the odds? The six of us walked out of the camp not long after, and trekked towards the cave.  
  
"Well Rahn, you're the expert on this game. What exactly is in that cave?" asked Bell. I rubbed my chin in thought for a moment, thinking about what was inside.  
  
"Mostly those Fallen I believe. There are also a few zombies in there, and maybe a few Wendigos" I said.  
  
"What are those?" asked Nokame.  
  
"Umm, think of it as an oversized Sasquatch" I told him.  
  
"That all that's in there?" asked Kitkat. We came in sight of the cave a second later.  
  
"No, there's a 'unique' monster in there called Corpse Fire. He's got a powerful attack, and is hard to damage, but shouldn't be much of a problem." I told him. We walked to the front of the cave and stared down into the darkness of it. Inside, we could here all these strange noises coming from the creatures it held within.  
  
"So..who wants to go in first?" asked Serena, a little hesistant to go in. I wouldn't blame her really, I didn't want to go in myself actually.  
  
"How about we draw straws, but use the grass instead of straws?" asked Nokame. Not a bad idea. None of us was going to volunteer anyway. Nokame got six blades of grass, and cut them at different lengths. We then drew a blade of grass and looked at them all. C-4 had the longest one, then Serena had the second longest, Kitkat had the third, Nokame had the fourth, and I had the second, and Bell came up with the shortest.  
  
"But I don't want to go in first! It's creepy as hell down there!" she yelled. Yeah, just alert all the monsters down there that we're here why don't ya?"  
  
"Hey, you drew the shortest straw" said C-4. "It's not our fault you can't draw straws for beans." Bell looked back at the cave nervously. I could tell she didn't want to go in. She probably isn't the best choice anyway. Guess I'll go with her I suppose.  
  
"Come on Bell, I'll go in with you, okay?" I said. Bell looked at me and nodded, then we entered the cave. It amazingly wasn't all that dark inside. In fact, there was a faint red glow in the cave that seemed to come from nowhere, but it was still rather dark none the less. I drew my sword out and kept my eyes and ears open. I also used my psychic abilities to scout ahead for anything. Bell was holding her staff like a baseball bat and was darting her head from one diretion to another.  
  
"Bell, calm down at bit. You won't be able to focus if you keep being so scared." I told her.  
  
"Well I can't help it. These are demons we're dealing with here, not those crappy ass robots that Eggman or GUN make" she said.  
  
"Don't worry about it. Listen, you have the ability to use magic, and that staff you have should give you the ability to cast a fire bolt spell. Try using that when fighting the things"  
  
"But I don't know how to use it, I." She was cut off when a Fallen suddenly jumped out of the darkness and leaped towards us. Bell screamed and slammed her staff into the ground, and a bolt of fire suddenly fired out of it and struck the Fallen One. It landed at our feet motionless and burned. It was dead.  
  
"Well there ya go. Now you know how to use it" I told her. She just stared at the staff amazed. Then she smiled to herself.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so"  
  
"Well, it seems to be clear a little ways up ahead. Let's go get the others, that way all of us can clear this place out." We back tracked and got the others, and we all proceeded deeper into the cave.  
  
"So we have to kill all the monsters in this place?" asked Nokame.  
  
"Yeah. That's what the lady said" said Kitkat.  
  
"Hey guys, look over there!" said Serena. She was pointing towards an area that was giving off some light. We cautiously walked over and peered around the corner. There were about forty or so Fallen, all gathered around a fire. Also, off in the corner, there were a few zombies gathered around one zombie that was a little different from the rest. There were also some big ape creatures too.  
  
"Wow, look at all of them" said Bell. "What are they doing?"  
  
"It looks like their gathering for something" said C-4. Gathering for something? They must be rallying to attack the camp!  
  
"Listen guys. We need to go in and take them out, 'now.' I think they might be getting ready to attack the Rogues" I told them.  
  
"Dude, we're royally outnumbered here. How do propose we fight them?" asked Kitkat. He had a point. There must be some way to fight them all off. The Fallen Ones won't be much of a problem, their easy to kill. The Wendigos (you know, the ape creatures) will have to go first. The zombies can go last because the'll be to slow and their easy to evade. Okay, I think I've got it.  
  
"C-4? You see those Wendigo?" He looked at them, then nodded towards me. "Next to Corpse Fire, they are the strongest here. If you would be so kind as to bust a few caps into their heads, then the rest of us will go in and take care of the other demons. You can join us after you kill them all." I told him.  
  
With that, C-4 took out his gun, and fired at the Wendigo. This immediately gained the attention of the other monsters, and they started to converge on us. We charged into the group while C-4 stayed behind and killed the remaining Wendigo. Kitkat had successfully taken off a few heads of the little imps, and Serena had impaled a few of her own with her javelin.  
  
Bell was at a distance between us and C-4, aiming at any Fallen that came near her and fired a fire bolt at them, earning her a few kill shots. Me and Nokame were fighting together nearby. I slashed through a few, cleaving some completely in half, and Nokame was hitting some with his wand and using his shell shock attack. He obviously didn't know how to use the incantation written on the wand yet.  
  
"Hey Nokame!" I called to him as I sliced through another fallen.  
  
"What, I'm kinda busy!" he yelled  
  
"Point your wand at a dead corpse, and read what it says on the wand! It will help us out a bit!" I yelled back to him. He did so and pointed the wand at a Fallen Ones' corpse and said the incantation on the wand. Suddenly, the corpse exploded and it's skeleton stood up. Then, the skeleton went from the form of a Fallen, to that of a 6.2 human male skeleton. Nokame stared at it for a moment in awe, and trying not to lose whatever was in his stomach.  
  
"Well don't just gawk at it man, tell it what to do!" I yelled as I killed another demon.  
  
"Right, um, okay..skeleton, go kill some monsters and don't stop until they are all dead, got that?" The skelton then went to the nearest group of monsters and started to go to work. Kitkat suddenly appeared beside us a second later.  
  
"Wow Nokame, that kicked ass!"  
  
"Kitkat, watch out!" yelled Nokame. Kitkat turned around in time to see a zombie take a swipe at him. Kitkat successfully ducked the blow and sliced the zombie in half at the torso. Not a bad move, not bad at all.  
  
"Where are all of these impish things coming from?!" yelled Serena. "We keep killing and killing, but more seem to pop up!"  
  
"There's your answer!" said C-4 as he pointed at the other end of the fighting area. There was one Fallen that was taller than the others, and was more elaborately dressed. He also had two horns sticking out, an odd staff with a flag on it, and a dagger. A Fallen Shamen. He was resurrecting all of the Fallen we had killed so far, and we'd kill them again, and he'd resurrect them again.  
  
"Guys, concentrate everything on that shamen! We won't win if he keeps doing what he's doing!" I told them. No sooner did I say that when C-4 suddenly leaped over the entire group of Fallen and slam his axe right down into the Fallen Shamens' head.  
  
"Wow, he learned the leap attack." C-4 then took out his axe, which was now covered by the blood of the shamen, and took off it's head with a clean swipe, spraying the demons blood on the nearby cave wall.  
  
"Yeah! Go C-4!" cheered Bell. Now that the Shamen was gone, the rest should fall easily. We quickly cut down the rest of the Fallen, which didn't take as much effort now, until only the zombies were left.  
  
"Okay Rahn, is there any strategy to taking out these guys?" asked Kitkat.  
  
"Nope, just watch out for Corpse Fire. He's got that strong attack I told you about earlier, and might kill ya if he manages a hit"  
  
Bell pointed into the small group of zombies. "Is he that odd bronze looking one?"  
  
"You bet he is. Now let's get'em!" We charged forth at the zombies. Kitkat sliced through one fairly quickly, and Nokame and his skeleton were beating down on one nearby. C-4 was doing fine until one managed a blow to his shoulder and knocked him down. This got C-4 boiling, and he pulled out his gun and unloaded it in the monsters head. After which, C-4 pulled himself up and kicked the dead carcass a few times before continuing the slaughter.  
  
I downed another zombie myself, then noticed Serena out of the corner of my eye. Corpse Fire had gotten right behind here, and she didn't know! Nokame must have noticed too, because he called out to her.  
  
"Serena, behind you!"  
  
"Huh?" she turned around but was to late. Corpse Fire used his spectral hit attack and knocked Serena away to the ground ten yards away.  
  
"You bastered! You'll pay for that!" Nokame ran forth, pulled himself into his shell, and slammed into Corpse Fire, sending the zombie flying and landing on a stalagmite.  
  
"Whoa....ouch" said Bell upon seeing Corpse Fire. However, he wasn't dead yet. He just lifted himself off the cave formation and started stalking towards us with a big hole in his chest.  
  
"Hey, your supposed to stay dead!" I yelled at him. I jumped forward towards him and kicked him across the face as I went by. Then, I grabbed his arm, swung myself around, and kicked him again, sending him into the cave wall.  
  
"Nice move Rahn!" said Kitkat.  
  
"Thanx, you got any of that kerosine left in your pockets?" I asked him  
  
"Yeah, I think so..." He dug around in his pockets and pulled out that tank of kerosine he had earlier. "Why do you ne - Hey!" I plucked it out of his hands and threw it at Corpse Fire before he could get up.  
  
"Bell, fire a firebolt at the kerosine!" I told her.  
  
"Got it!" Bell summoned a firebolt and shot it at the container before it hit Corpse Fire, causing the container to ignite and spread the contents all over the zombie. Now Corpse Fire was completely on fire, and wasn't getting up off the ground. At that same time, the eeire red light in the cave dissappeared and was replaced with regular white light that was shining through the ceiling.  
  
"Is that a good thing?" asked C-4, looking around the area cautiously.  
  
"Yeah, it means all the monsters in the cave are dead" I told them.  
  
"So...we win?" asked Bell. I nodded my head, and she jumped ten feet in the air and threw her fists up.  
  
"WOO-HOO!!! We won!!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, causing her voice to echo through the cave. I shook my head, then looked towards where Nokame was helping Serena to her feet.  
  
"You gonna be okay Serena?" I asked her.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Nothing broken, well, yet anyway" she said. Nokame was looking at the spot where the zombie had hit her at, and shook his head. There was a swelling bruise on her side that didn't look to healthy and it was getting bigger.  
  
"We should take her to Akara and get her patched up" I told everyone.  
  
"I guess she's not only the leader, but the doctor too, right?" said Kitkat.  
  
"Yes, she is. Come on, let's go." We walked out of the cave and trekked back towards the camp. I'd say it was around two'o clock when we made it back. We all immediately went to see Akara to receive the reward for clearing out the cave, and to fix some of the minor scratches we got. Maybe we should see Charsi about getting some armor. We made it to Akara's tent when she walked out, obviously surprised to see us.  
  
"Well, I wasn't expecting you to come back, let alone in one piece" she said.  
  
"Yeah, thanks a lot" said Kitkat sarcastically.  
  
"Did you clear out the cave?" she asked us.  
  
"We sure did. It wasn't really all that difficult" said Bell.  
  
"Well then, I should probably tend to whatever wounds you have. However, since my tent can only hold two people, I will take you all in one at at time.  
  
With that, she beckoned Serena to follow her inside her tent while the rest of us sat on the ground outside. A few minutes later, Serena came back out and looked better than she did before!  
  
"Wow, that was quick!" said Nokame.  
  
"I know! She just used some magic spell on me, and I healed up!" she said. It wasn't to long before the rest of us were healed from whatever scratches and bruises we got in the Den of Evil. We also got a reward for clearing out the cave. Akara gave us quite a few healing potions, which do the same job as her magic but only to a certain extent. Some few town portal scrolls, and some gold. Odd though, this wasn't the reward you got in the game for completeing the Den of Evil quest. Oh well.  
  
"I know it's not much, but it will help you later on, and you can use the gold to buy armor from Charsi and make repairs to your weapons" she told us. We thanked her, then started t owalk towards Charsi's little area where she worked at, but we were suddenly stopped by Kashya. Oh, wait, I haven't said anything about her yet, have I? Well, Kashya it the leader of the Rogues when they are in battle. Basically, the Rogue General. And right now, she was standing in front of us.  
  
"Hey Kashya, what's up?" asked C-4.  
  
"I have heard of your acomplishment clearing out the Den of Evil 'outlanders.'" Ah, yes, I forgot to mention how untrustworthy she is of most newcomers.  
  
"I'd like to congratulate you on your task, and ask you if you could do something for me" she said rather hesitantly.  
  
"You see...I need your help."  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
Alright, I finally go the second chapter out! Sorry for the delay everyone. I'll try and work quickly on the next one, but no gurentees on how soon it will be out. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and any reveiws would be great.  
  
Rahn (Mechabot VII) 


	4. Blood Raven

Chapter III - Blood Raven  
We walked through the Blood Moor without running into too much trouble. A Fallen, a zombie, and a little porcupine thing called a Quill Rat popped its head up occasionally. Kashya had come to us with a little problem, one that I already knew about but the others didn't. Andarial corrupted a person called Blood Raven, who had helped fight Diablo in the catacombs beneath the town of Tristram. Now she was in the Monastery Graveyard past the Cold Plains, raising the rogues dead as zombies. Everyone sounded reluctant to give it a go, but they knew we couldn't find a way home unless we helped these people. Plus, the armaments that Charsi gave us before we left coaxed them pretty good.  
  
She had given everyone a set of Chain Mail. Usually in the game, you couldn't wear such a garment now because your not strong enough. But who am I to complain. So, everyone had a set of chain mail along with some boots and gloves. However, the armor looked different on everybody like in the game. The characters could be wearing the same thing, but they'd look different. Nokame, for example, had a skull with a horn in it on his shoulder like a shoulder pad and some bones along the rib area. However, Kat had on the same thing, but he looked like a regular knight. So..almost all the games physics applied, except for the way of attributes.  
  
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, we were going through the Blood Moor. We walked for what seemed to be an hour or so past the Den of Evil, and came across a rogue who was guarding the path that lead to the Cold Plains. Kashya told us about her saying that she was there to keep travelers from going further and getting hurt, and said that we had to say a password before she'd let us continue on.  
  
"Halt!" she called to us throwing a hand up. "State your business coming here!"  
  
"We're going to go kill that Blood Raven lady!" said Kat in an unusual cheerful tone.  
  
"I'm sorry, but unless you can respond with the proper pass-"  
  
"Red eyes" said C-4, interrupting her sentence.  
  
"Oh. Okay then, you may pass. But take care. The corrupted rogues in the wilderness ahead are not to be trifled with." We thanked her and proceeded on. As we walked, Serena looked at me with a little worry in her eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked her.  
  
"Why didn't you want any armor when Charsi was handing it out? If you get hit the right way without it."  
  
"Yeah." said Nokame. "I was wondering that myself."  
  
I switched my gaze back in front of us on the path and answered. "If I have any armor on, it will slow me up, and I don't want that. It's best that if I don't have any. Besides, I'm very quick, and the odds of something hitting me are slim to none." I told them. They remained quiet after that and we continued on. Suddenly, we came across a large group of Fallen camped on the side of the path.  
  
"Alright! Some action!" said C4 as he took out his gun and blasted a few bullets into some of their skulls. This quickly got their attention, and the Fallen charged at us.  
  
"You know C-4.. there is something called "STEALTH" that we could have used instead!" yelled Kat. After his little remark, we all charged forth as well and met the Fallen head on. Every which way we were cutting them down. C-4 was shooting at them or hitting them with his hand axe, Bell was shooting fire bolts at them, Nokame still had his skeleton around and they were taking a few out, and Kat and Serena were just going through them like nothing. Me, I was chopping through trying to get to the shaman because they keep resurrecting all the ones we killed.  
  
I got closer and cut one down, his blood spraying as my sword cut him across the belly and he fell limp. I grinned and was about to move on to the next when something happened. The shaman I just killed came back to life!  
  
"What the hell?!" I yelled out. Shaman don't come back to life unless..there was a unique one nearby! I looked around quickly and I spotted him. He was green skinned instead of red skinned like the rest. Bishibosh.  
  
"Somebody take him out! If we don't, he'll bring all the shaman back to life!" I yelled to everyone. Kat was the first to react and he ran towards Bishibosh. Suddenly, he became a blur and hit him with his shield at full force and sent Bishibosh flying into a tree!  
  
"Wow..I didn't know I could do that." I took this time to cut down as many shaman as I could. The fewer the better, and once Bishibosh is dead, the others will stay that way. Bishibosh slowly got up and growled at Kat.  
  
"Oh, you want more of this?" said Kat as he held up his shield. Bishibosh was about to charge at Kat, but Bell got behind him and tripped him up with her staff. After he hit the ground, she fired a fire bolt right at his head and killed the demon. Bishibosh now lay dead, thus no more shamans could be brought back. We cleared out the rest of the Fallen with no problem, and soon the little demon camp was quiet.  
  
"Well." I said wiping the blood off my sword with a cloth. "that takes care of that."  
  
"Hey! Look what I found!" yelled Nokame. We all turned to him as he was rummaging around one of the dead Fallen. After a few seconds, he pulled out a fistful of gold coins! "Looks like I struck it rich!" he said tossing a few in the air and catching them.  
  
"Wow...I wonder what else these guys have on them?" said Kat as he too started pillaging through the dead demons. After a few minutes, all of us were going through them. I completely forgot that you could get stuff from these guys when you killed them.  
  
"Hey, take a look at these." said Bell as she pulled out five potions, three blue, two purple. "What are these supposed to be?" she asked me.  
  
"The blue ones are mana. They restore magic energy, so you and Nokame will need those the most. The purple ones are rejuvenation potions. They not only heal you, but they restore magic as well. They're rare and hard to find, so don't use those unless you have to." I told her. She nodded and pocketed them in a little satchel that she had gotten back in town. After a bit, everyone had found something, whether it be potions, scroll, weapons, armor, or gold. Soon after, we left and proceeded down the path. It wasn't too long after that we came to a fork in the road.  
  
"Well, which way do we go?" asked Serena.  
  
"One of the paths goes to the burial grounds, the other heads to Stony Field, which continues on to the monastery." I said as I looked ahead of both paths.  
  
"Why don't we split up?" suggested Kat. "We split into threes and pick a path."  
  
"Not a bad idea really, but we'd only be at half strength if we do that, and fighting would be much harder." Said Nokame.  
  
C-4 crossed his arms, looked at me, and said, "Well, what do you think?" I thought for a moment as I looked down the path. We could do that I suppose..but we'd have to be careful.  
  
"Okay, we'll split up. Me, Bell, and Kat will go this way." I said as I pointed to the path on the right. "and Nokame, Serena, and C-4 will go that way." I pointed to the left. We all agreed, and we evenly distributed the town portal scroll between the two groups. After that, we said our farewell, and went on down our selected paths.  
  
(At this point, I will cover the three of us going after Blood Raven. C-4, Nokame, and Serena will appear in the next chapter. Also, while the group is separated, I'm gonna switch to third person)  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Rahn, Bell, and Kat walked down the path, not knowing if it led to the Stony Field or the Burial Grounds. Rahn had a feeling they were on the right track, but until they were close enough, he wouldn't be able to tell.  
  
"How much further do you think it is?" asked Kat as he used his sword for a walking stick. Rahn shook his head and replied, "I have no idea. But we'll know soon enough. It can't be that far away by now."  
  
Right after he said that, an arrow zoomed by and landed in front of them.  
  
"Yikes!" screamed Bell as she jumped back a little. They quickly turned around and came face to face with a group of Rogues. Kat flustered a bit and yelled at them, "Hey! Watch where you're aiming!"  
  
Rahn only had to glance at them once before he went into a battle position. These rogues were different from the ones they knew. Their skin was pure white, and they looked like they were slowly transforming into some creature. They were the Corrupted Rogues that the guard before the Cold Plains had warned them about.  
  
"Kat, these are not the same rogues," Rahn told him. Kat took another close look, then he too went into an attack position. Bell soon followed. The rogues charged at them, not wielding bows like most rogues do, but swords, shields, and pole weapons. One with a pole axe took a downward swipe at Rahn, and he swiftly side stepped and stabbed the rogue in the gut. She fell to the ground, then rose in the air as some demonic spirit left her corpse. Kat did the same thing when one charged him with a sword, but brought out his frying pan and hit her upside the head before she fell.  
  
Bell tripped a few with her staff, then fired a fire bolt at them before they could get up and successfully dispatched them that way. After a few minutes, all the rogues in the small group were dead.  
  
"Should we see if they have anything good?" asked Bell as she turned one over with her staff.  
  
"Yes. We need to take advantage of every item we can find and carry," said Rahn. After a few minutes of scavenging, they turned up a few more gold pieces, and an interesting item for Bell.  
  
"Hey, look at this," said Kat as he held up a long staff object. "I think this is something Bell can use." Bell lifted her head at the mention of her name.  
  
"Yeah, I think your right. We better check and see if it's magical though," said Rahn. He dug out a scroll from his pocket that he got off one of the rogue bodies. It had a red seal around it. He opened it up and did his best to pronounce the words on it. He must have done it right, because the scrolls' text changed and displayed what the staff could do. In English too, surprisingly.  
  
"Wow.this isn't too bad. Bell, your gonna get a new skill. The staff lets you fire a spell called Chain Lightning," said Rahn. After that, the scroll seemed to disappear into nothingness.  
  
"Well, that was kinda cool," said Kat.  
  
"What's chain lightning?" asked Bell as she took the staff from Kat.  
  
"A very useful lightning spell. You fire lightning, and it jumps from one target to another through a chain. Thus, chain lightning," explained Rahn. After a few more minutes of talking and gathering things from the slain bodies, the three left off down the path. As they walked, they came across lots of many interesting things. There were a few very small abandoned houses that they looked in and found some more gold pieces and a few more scrolls of identify (the one with the red seal) and town portal. They also discovered chests on the side of the road, some locked and had to be pried open, and found some more gold along with a few health and mana potions.  
  
"Wow, this place has lots of treasure, huh?" said Kat as he put a health potion on a belt he had found for easier access.  
  
"Yes, it does," said Rahn "and the riches will become even greater the further we move along."  
  
"Hey, what's that thing?" Bell asked and pointed to a tree like object in the distance. They walked to it, and found it had a deer head strewn on the top of a pole that was attached to an old stump, along with a scroll nailed to it and some blood lying on the top of the stump.  
  
"Forget I asked," said Bell as she stuck her tongue out in disgust when she saw the deer head.  
  
"It's a shrine," said Rahn as he moved closer to it. "There are lots of these things all over the place."  
  
"What do they do?" asked Kat.  
  
"Well, shrines do numerous things. They can heal you, recharge magic, or do both. They can also increase your strength, and the power of your magic. Some even give special potions. But, then there are those that are trapped, and you have to watch out for those." After Rahn had finished talking, Bell decided to move closer to it.  
  
"How does it work?" she asked. Rahn thought for a second, then shrugged his shoulder, causing both Kat and Bell to fall over with a sweat drop.  
  
"You mean you don't know?!" yelled Kat as he got back up with a vein on his head.  
  
"In the game, you pointed and clicked on it when you were near it. But, I would guess that scroll might have something to do with it" stated Rahn. Bell struggled to get back up and put her hand on the shrine for support, that's when the shrine made an odd sound, and the blood on the stump evaporated. The scroll, which was blank before, now read 'A Marvelous Gem' and dropped a red gem to the ground. Then, the scroll burned to ash.  
  
"Well..I guess touching it does work, huh?" said Kat. Bell picked up the gem and looked at it. It looked like it was chipped or something.  
  
"A chipped ruby.could come in handy later" said Rahn. Bell finally got back up and pocketed the gem.  
  
"I wonder what it's for" she pondered out loud.  
  
"I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to find that graveyard. We're losing daylight" said Rahn as he turned back to the path. Kat and Bell followed him. After about another hour or so, the sun finally began to settle in the distance in the west, and they finally came in sight of the graveyard. They walked down the path, and towards the entrance that led to the graveyard area. The path became narrower, and was in between two small rock walls. The path finally led to an open area away from the walls, and in the middle was the caged graveyard.  
  
"Wow.creepy" said Kat as he raised his sword. Bell readied her staff, and Rahn got his sword ready as well.  
  
"Keep your eyes open" said Rahn. They moved towards the front gate when all of the sudden, five skeletons jumped out from behind a small wall near the gate. They were wielding some small swords and shields. Nothing too much to worry about. Kat swiftly cut one down with no problem, and Rahn and Bell continued the process. In a few seconds, the skeletons were dead, that is, if they weren't already.  
  
"Come on, let's go!" yelled Rahn as he dashed to the gate.  
  
"Hey, wait up!" Kat followed closely behind Rahn.  
  
"Hey, you forgot me!" Bell dashed towards the two, and all three entered the graveyard. Upon entering, they heard a low and demonic feminine voice.  
  
"Join my army of the dead!" Suddenly, zombies of dead rogues started bursting from their graves.  
  
"..You think they got morning sickness?" asked Kat. Rahn threw his sword like a boomerang at the zombies and Kat drew out his frying pan and did the same. Both weapons collided with the zombies, successfully knocking them down or taking off their heads. Rahn and Kat caught their weapons when they returned, and charged forth into the fray; cutting, slicing, and smacking zombies left and right.  
  
"Chain Lightning!" yelled Bell as she shot forth the lightning from her staff. It jumped from one zombie to the other, falling at least six of them. However, more soon rose from their graves.  
  
"Darn it!" yelled Bell. Rahn and Kat were having enough of a hard time trying to keep the horde off of them. Every time one zombie fell, another took its place. It was a large graveyard, so this could go on forever.  
  
"There has to be a way to stop them." said Bell. As she took another zombie out with a fire bolt, she noticed something in the tree at the center of the graveyard. It was some kind of rogue, but her skin was paled too like those ones from earlier, and she had the same mutation thing going on, but it looked more advanced. Her head was what looked like a raven, and had two horns protruding from the back of her skull. She was also wearing red all over, and wielded a fierce looking bow.  
  
".Blood Raven" No doubt, it was her. She sat in the tree and watched Rahn and Kat fight off her zombie army. One fell again, and she waved her hand, then another popped from its grave.  
  
"Foolish creatures." she said as she jumped from the tree. "Do you really expect to win? Granted, you are rather odd looking, and are learning the skills of some of the more renowned cultures that reside in this world, but you are no match for me or my zombies." Blood Raven raised her bow and aimed at Kat. "You shall make fine trophies for Andarial's wall."  
  
"Oh no you don't! Fire Bolt!" Bell launched a fire bolt right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven quickly saw it, and flipped backwards.  
  
"Bell!" yelled Rahn, "Keep her distracted while me and Kat take out these zombies!"  
  
"Right!" Bell launched another fire bolt at Blood Raven, but she ducked and quickly fired an arrow at Bell.  
  
"Meep!" Bell ducked the arrow as it zoomed above her head, and struck a zombie dead. Then, she blew a raspberry at her.  
  
"You insolent worm!" Blood Raven drew another arrow, fueling it with magic. She let it go, and the arrow combusted in fire, and successfully struck Bell in the shoulder. Bell fell, and quickly pulled the arrow out and put out the fire on her shoulder. She was bleeding now, but it wasn't bad. But she couldn't take more hits like that.  
  
"You bitch!" Bell threw her staff in front of her and called out her spell. "Chain Lightning!" The lightning shot forth towards Blood Raven and struck home. It also jumped to the closest group of zombies and fried them as well. Blood Raven fell to her knee, and quickly ducked behind a tombstone. This was going to be harder than she first thought.  
  
Meanwhile, Kat and Rahn were having some luck with the zombies. They had cut them down significantly, and there were only a few left.  
  
"That's twenty five!" yelled Kat with some pride.  
  
"Thirty for me!" Rahn yelled back as he sliced another one. "Make that thirty one!" Kat cut threw another and made his score twenty-six. They had went on like this for a few minutes now. Back with Bell, Blood Raven now had her pinned behind that tree from earlier.  
  
"Just give up now, Fox Girl! Even if you do somehow survive, you'll never make it past Andarial, let alone get to the monastery!" yelled Blood Raven. Bell had to think quickly. She looked around herself for something she could possibly use, and found nothing.  
  
"Maybe if I can get close range to her?" she said to herself. Bell jumped out from behind the tree, and Blood Raven shot more fire arrows at her. Bell dodged them, but got hit by two of them in her shoulders. She didn't pull them out just yet though. She got closer to Blood Raven, until finally she ran by her, and tripped her up with her staff. Blood Raven fell to the ground and Bell quickly turned around and launched a chain lightning right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven rolled away and dodged it, then fired another arrow right at Bell. This one, however, struck her in the chest.  
  
Bell felt a sharp jolt and put her hand on her chest, then removed it. Her hand was red. She suddenly felt weak and tired, then fell to the ground limp.  
  
"Oh no! Bell's down!" yelled Kat. Rahn turned and saw her just as she fell.  
  
"Not good" he sliced through another zombie and ran towards Bell. However, he noticed the area started to glow read a little. He looked up to see where it was coming from, and found another red portal like the one that had brought them here in the first place. He stopped for a second and looked up at it.  
  
".another red portal?" Blood Raven, not noticing the portal at all, took out another arrow, and was loading it into the bow. However, she never got the chance. Something from the red portal fell to the ground, and landed right on her. Blood Raven hit the ground and gasped. She looked down under her and saw that the arrow she had loaded had pierced her right through the heart. She gasped again, then fell limp. Suddenly, her sprit shot out of her body, and numerous lightning bolts shot from it all over the graveyard. It hit all the zombies that were left, and they fell to the ground motionless. Then, Blood Raven's spirit vanished.  
  
"What a random stroke of luck" said Kat. Rahn ignored him and ran up to Bell. He removed the arrows from her, and took her pulse. She was alive, but barely.  
  
"Kat! Use a town portal scroll, and get Bell to Akara, fast!" he yelled to him.  
  
"Oh! Right!" Kat took a scroll from Rahn, and opened it up. A blue portal sprung forth beside him and the scroll disintegrated. Kat then picked up Bell, and walked through the portal. Rahn sighed and looked about. That's when he spotted the newcomer still sitting on Blood Raven's dead corpse. He walked over and picked the person up. She was another hedgehog, and appeared to be from the same place as them. But, she looked different from most normal hedgehogs.  
  
She was gray with black stripes going through her quills, which stretched all the way to the ground. She also had leathery demon looking wings on her back, a few strands of gray hair on her forehead, and a long tail that splintered near the end. She was also wearing a dark blue t-shirt, along with some blue jeans and green shoes with black lightning bolts on them. Rahn's eyes shot open when he recognized this form. She stirred a little and opened her eyes, which were a shade or green, yellow, and orange. She looked around for a second, then spotted Rahn in front of her.  
  
"Rahn? Wha.What's going on, and."she looked around again, "where are we?  
  
"um.It's a long story, Calli."  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Well, I finally got another chapter out. *dodges rotten vegetables thrown at him* Hey! I'm lazy, alright! Bite me! I'll get the next one out sooner! *is hit with a tomato*  
  
Snoopy, that wasn't funny.  
  
[Snoopy] Well, it took you long enough! You deserve it!  
  
Yeah yeah, anyway, Calli is now going to be a part of the story. For everyone that knows her and me best, you can guess why. As for Bell.you'll find out her fate next chapter. All reviews are welcome, but flames must wait at the front door step and await being eaten by rabid, chain smoking monkeys. ^_^ God, I've been hanging around with everyone on MSN for too long.  
Rahn (Mechabot VII) 


	5. The Search For Cain Begins

This chapter, and more than likely the rest of them, is going to switch point of views. Anytime that I, Rahn, am in a group, it's first person. Any other time, it will be in a third person view. I'll label every time that it switches. Don't understand? You will later. Now, on with chapter 4!  
  
Chapter IV - The Search for Cain Begins  
  
"I know silence is supposed to be golden, but come on!" yelled C-4.  
  
"That's right, C-4. Let's alert the demons we're near them" said Serena in a sarcastic tone.  
  
"Yeah, really, C-4. It's best if we stay quiet that way we don't attract to much attention" said Nokame. "We don't want a horde of those little impish things after us, do we?" C-4 shut his mouth and kept quiet after that, but both Nokame and Serene knew it wouldn't be long before he yelled again. It was about an hour or two since they had left Rahn, Bell, and Kit Kat, and another two hours since they came across a rock wall similar to the one the others went through to get into the burial grounds. They had assumed that they were in Stony Field now since they hadn't come across any burial grounds, and the fact there were rocks scattered every which way.  
  
"You know, Rahn said there were demons crawling all over the place. Yet, I have yet to really see them.everywhere" stated C-4.  
  
"I suppose you have a point there" said Nokame, "We've only came across those few in large groups when we were all together. None of them were really scattered." They followed the path around the corner of a stone wall.  
  
"Maybe they get more scattered as we go along?" said Serena, "I mean.it 'is' supposed to get harder the further we go, isn't it?"  
  
"I guess so" said C4. They walked a little more until they came to a group of tall, gray stones.  
  
"Wow, I didn't know Stone Henge got sucked up with us" said C-4. Serena hit him in the head.  
  
"It's not Stone Henge, C-4. It looks a lot different from this thing" she pointed out.  
  
"Yeah" said Nokame as he moved closer to it, his skeleton following. There were a total of five stones, each with a sign on the top of them. "They could be a way for us to return home, but I don't want to get anybody's hopes up."  
  
"I suppose we could ask Aka-" C-4 began, but was cut off when a Carver jumped onto his shoulders and planted him in the dirt.  
  
".ow" was all C-4 said before even more appeared from nowhere. Serena and Nokame prepared themselves, and Nokame's skeleton was just waiting for the order.  
  
"They look like those Fallen creatures.but.their blue instead of red!" said Nokame.  
  
"Yeah, what's up with that?" asked Serena. C-4 got up and threw the Carver on him back into the lot of his brethren.  
  
"They might just be tougher versions of those things. Rahn did say the further we go, the harder it gets" said C4.  
  
"Greeeeeaaaaat. Well come on, skeleton, jump in and get them!" order Nokame. The skeleton walked forward and tried to attack one, but quickly fell to pieces after a few blows.  
  
"Yeeesh.that can't be good" said Serena. The Carvers all drew their swords and charged at them.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kat exited the blue portal and landed near the fire of the rogue camp. A few of the rogues had gathered around to see what the commotion was about, but upon seeing the state Bell was in, they quickly rushed her to Akara. Kat followed them into Akaras' hut. Kashya was inside with her, and was shocked to see Bell in such a bad state.  
  
"My goodness.what happened?" asked Akara asked Kat. Kat walked up next to the bed that the rogues put Bell on.  
  
"Blood Raven got nailed her a few times with her bow while me and Rahn were fighting off some zombies." Akara looked at Kat stunned, then it slowly turned to a cold glare that moved towards Kashya.  
  
"Kashya.did you ask them to defeat Blood Raven?"  
  
"Yes, Akara," Kashya looked down to her feet, "I did."  
  
"Kashya, you knew they weren't ready yet. Why did you send them to perform such a task?" asked Akara.  
  
"Hey! Number one, we killed that Blood Raven chick!" said Kat. "Two, Bell needs some serious attention here!"  
  
"I will do my best, Kit Kat" said Akara. "All of you leave so I can heal her without being disturbed." Everyone inside the tent obliged and left. Kat got no more than a few feet away when Kashya stopped him.  
  
"Kat.I'm sorry about Bell. I shouldn't have asked you all to fight Blood Raven. It was a task I should have done myself."  
  
Kat smiled a little bit. "It's okay. Besides, one of us was bound to be injured like that at some point." Kat looked back to the tent. "I just wish it wasn't Bell though."  
  
"I thank you for defeating her though, and I am truly sorry about your friend. Blood Raven actually used to be one of my friends as well before Andarial came" said Kashya.  
  
"Sorry to hear that" said Kat.  
  
"I wish to reward you for your victory though. Floria!" A rogue ran over to Kashya, wearing some light armor and wielding a bow.  
  
"Yes, sir!"  
  
"Floria. I want you to accompany Kat on his journey. You are to take orders from him and do what he says, understood?" The rogue nodded her head at Kashya, and Kashya turned back to Kat.  
  
"Take care, Kat, and don't worry about Bell. Akara is one of the best healers in the land." Kashya left the two to go and do whatever she needed to, and Kat looked up at the rogue, Floria.  
  
"Well," he started, "guess we should get back to Rahn then,huh?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* First Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
By now Calli was standing on her own. Well, sort of. She was using me for support. I helped her over to a giant tombstone that had fallen over and she sat down. Not exactly the most comfortable thing, but it had to be better than Blood Raven's corpse.  
  
"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded while looking around at the scenery again.  
  
"Rahn, where the hell are we? And how did we end up here?" she asked me.  
  
"Well, me, Kat, Bell, Serena, C-4, and Nokame all got sucked in by a red portal, and from the looks of it, so did you" I told her. "As for where we are." I started telling her the same story that I had told the others when we first got here. I had summed it up much shorter than when I told it the first time, and Calli listened intently. Once I was done, she sat there with her eyes lowered to the ground.  
  
"So." she said, "is there any way back?" I shook my head.  
  
"As of the moment, no. But, those rogues I told you about need our help, and if we can get east to Lut Gholein, I might be able to find someone to help us." I answered.  
  
"You said that Bell got injured, is she okay?" she asked. Boy, she sure is full of questions.  
  
"I don't know. Kat took her through the town portal to get her looked at. But, I believe she'll be fine." I said. She slowly got up and took my hand then smiled.  
  
"Well, at least your all okay for the most part. Everyone on the crew has been trying to find you guys for the past three days."  
  
Three days?! Hold up!  
  
"Three days?! Calli, we've only been stranded her for only about a day, soon to be two!" I told her.  
  
"Then that would mean.everyday here is three days back on Mobius!" she said.  
  
Boy, this was just perfect. Not only are we trying to get home and not get killed, but now it was a race for time! This means no slowing up what so ever now, and we have to move as quickly as possible.  
  
"Rahn?" Calli waved a hand in front of my face. I shook my head and came back from my thinking.  
  
"Sorry, kinda zoned out" I told her. I thought for another second then asked her. "You do have your sword and ruby with you, right?" Calli smiled and pulled the chaos ruby she had on a necklace out, and her ruby sword suddenly appeared in her hand.  
  
"Never leave home without them!" she grinned. I grinned as well. Calli had joined the group a few months after our first little adventure, along with a few other people. She's really nice, but if you get on her bad side you might as well have someone perform your last rights now. We had only started seeing each other not too long ago, which was one good reason I wish she wasn't here right now. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her, but her abilities will come in handy in the battles ahead.  
  
"We should probably wait for Kat to come back with some news," I said. "In the meantime, we need to pillage these corpses to see if there is anything good we can use" I told her. We both walked back to where Blood Raven lay, and Calli asked me a question.  
  
"Where are C-4, Nokame, and Serena at?"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Third Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Die you little bastards, die!" C-4 cut a Carver open with his axe and decapitated another with his sword.  
  
"There are lots of these little guys, aren't there?!" said Serena as she ducked out form behind one of the stones and threw a javelin into a Carver's throat. Nokame, who now had two skeletons out, was fighting nearby.  
  
"There has to be a shaman or a unique one nearby for there to be this many!" he yelled.  
  
"Well we better find him," C-4 cut into another one, "because these guys are annoying!" Nokame looked around for a second, when he spotted an odd colored Carver nearby. That had to be it.  
  
"Hey, skeletons!" he yelled. The skeletons looked at him and he pointed to the unique carver, whom we are going to call Rakanishu. The skeletons understood, and made their way towards Rakinishu. C-4, upon seeing that Nokame has spotted the demon, started making his way to it as well. Rakinishu looked and saw the two skeletons and C-4 coming at him, let out a small cry, and ran really fast. C-4 stomped and yelled.  
  
"I hate it when they do that!" he and the skeletons charged at Rakanishu while Serena and Nokame picked off any Carvers that trailed them. After a few minutes of chasing after the little bastard, one of the skeletons got close enough and struck him. However, once it did so, Rakanishu released many small charges of electricity that not only destroyed it, but got the other skeleton and C-4, which gave them both quite a shock.  
  
Rakanishu laughed, but his laughter was soon cut short by a javelin going straight through his skull. Rakanishu fell to the ground, dead.  
  
"Nice throw, Serena!" said Nokame.  
  
"Aww.it was nothing" she replied. C-4 slowly got back up, and looked at the dead Rakanishu, then swiftly leaped to his feet and kicked him a few times.  
  
"That's for shocking the hell out of me you son of a bitch!" he yelled. The remaining Carvers, after seeing their leader fall, made a run for it and disappeared, like the cowards they were.  
  
"Guess we should see if they have anything we can use" said Nokame. The three started looking over the dead corpses and found even more gold, along with a few scrolls of identify and town portal, not to mention a few healing potions. Serena even found a magic bow along with some arrows for it.  
  
"Okay, now that that's done, what do you think the deal is behind these stones?" asked C-4. They all looked at the stones again, and Nokame came to a conclusion.  
  
"Maybe we should ask Akara back at the camp?" he suggested.  
  
"Sounds good to me" said Serena. Nokame unrolled a town portal scroll, and a shimmering blue portal appeared next to him. The three of them stepped into it and headed back to the camp.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Kat and Floria made their way back to where the town portal was that would take them back to Rahn. However, another popped up, and gave Kat quite a startle. He jumped about six feet in the air, but he calmed down when he saw C-4, Serena, and Nokame walk through.  
  
"Dang guys! Don't scare me like that!" said Kat.  
  
"Sorry, Kat. Didn't mean to frighten ya" said C-4. He looked around for a second, then asked, "Where's Rahn and Bell?"  
  
"Well." started Kat, "we found the burial ground and that Blood Raven chick, and we took her out. But Bell got injured, so I brought her back here to get treated by Akara. Rahn is still at the burial ground with a new person that just showed up."  
  
"Is Bell going to be alright?" asked Serena. Kat nodded his head.  
  
"Akara said she'll be fine, and Kashya gave us one of her rogues as a reward for killing Blood Raven too," said Kat throwing a thumb towards Floria, "her name is Floria."  
  
"Hello" she greeted. The three said hi to her, then Nokame asked Kat another question.  
  
"Now, what's this about a new person?"  
  
"Oh! Right! Well, while we were fighting, another red portal opened up right above Blood Raven, and someone fell out of it and landed on her! Blood Raven had her heart pierced by an arrow she was going to shoot Bell with as she fell to the ground, then that was it. Rahn is with that person now."  
  
"Any idea who it is?" asked C-4.  
  
"I don't know," said Kat, "but they looked familiar though."  
  
"Well, best not keep you waiting then" said Nokame. "We'll take Bell into our little party since your going to have Floria and whoever that new person is."  
  
"Alright. Come on Floria, let's go." Kat and Floria entered the portal that led back to the burial grounds. The portal disappeared behind them afterwards. Nokame, C-4, and Serena then went to Akara's hut and took a peak inside. Akara had just finished taking care of Bell, and Bell was slowly starting to sit up.  
  
"Oy.that was 'not' a pleasant experience," said Bell. She then noticed her three friends walk in, and immediately perked up. "Hi, guys! Where've ya been?!"  
  
"Oh just in that Stony Field place being attacked by a stronger version of Fallen," said Serena. "How about you?"  
  
"Getting shot by Blood Raven.wait.stronger Fallen!?" Bell yelled with a start.  
  
"So," started Akara, "you've came across the Carvers then?"  
  
"Carvers?" asked Nokame.  
  
"Yes. You see, you'll find out that as you get closer and closer to our monastery that you will come across stronger and stronger versions of the weaker monsters you have seen."  
  
"Grrrrreeeeeaaaaaattttttt..," all four of them said sarcastically.  
  
"Akara, we have a question," said Serena, "We came across the five stones in Stony Field that had these markings on them. Do you know what they do?" Akara walked slowly to a window as Serena asked this.  
  
"Yes, I know what they do. They're a portal gateway."  
  
"ALRIGHT!!!" yelled C-4, "We're going home!" Everyone gave a cheer, not as large as C-4's though. Akara sighed and shook her head.  
  
"I'm sorry to ruin the moment, but it's not that kind of portal," she said. Everyone got a down look on their face, and Akara continued.  
  
"It's a portal that leads to the town of Tristram, but it hasn't been used for ages," she stated.  
  
"Tristram? Hey, isn't that the town that Rahn said this Diablo guy first appeared at?" asked Bell.  
  
"Yes.I believe it is!" said Nokame.  
  
"Your friend, Rahn, would be correct. All the troubles that the land is dealing with all started in Tristram. Now, however, the town is in ruin and overrun with demons. But." Akara dwelled to herself for a moment, then spoke her mind, "Cain may still be alive there."  
  
"Cain? Didn't Rahn say something about him too?" asked C-4.  
  
"I don't recall.who is he, Akara?" asked Serena.  
  
"Cain is the last living member of the ancient Horadrim Mage Clan, the same clan that hunted down and pursued Diablo and his brothers across the land. They're the ones that sealed the three away into the soul stones that now bind them. I never really thought much about it, but if he's still alive, he could provide us with valuable information as to our current situation with Andariel," said Akara. C-4 got a grim look on his face.  
  
"This.sounds like we're going on a rescue mission." he said.  
  
"Hey. If he could be of any help to us, I say it's worth it," said Serena, "So how do we open that portal?"  
  
"Well," started Akara, "You need to find the Tree of Inifuss and bring back the piece of its bark that shows a set of runes on it. Once you return with it, I will translate the runes, and you can go open the portal."  
  
"So where's this tree at?" asked Bell.  
  
"Well, there's the hard part. We don't know. You'll have to find it yourselves." Everyone face faulted to the ground and C-4 jumped back up.  
  
"You mean your telling us to look for a tree that you don't know where it is!? Have you seen how many trees are out there, lady!?" Bell whacked C-4 in the head with her staff and sent him back to the ground.  
  
"Down, boy."  
  
"It shouldn't be to far from the Cairn Stones. They're the rocks that you found earlier," said Akara.  
  
"Okay, so what are we waiting for? Let's go get this guy!" said Nokame. Everyone agreed and exited the hut. Bell thanked Akara for the healing before she left out the door, and they went back through the portal to Stony Field.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* First Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Hey, Guys!" said Kat as he walked out of his TP (short for Town Portal) with a rogue. Guess Kashya gave him one as our reward for killing Blood Raven.  
  
"Hi, Kat. How's Bell?" I asked him as I stood back up from rummaging through a dead zombie, "and who's this here with you?"  
  
"I think Bell is okay now. Akara said she could fix her up no problem. As for this person here, this is Floria. Kashya told her to accompany us," he said.  
  
"Well it's nice to meet you, Floria," I greeted, "I'm Rahn, and of course, that's Kat." Calli came up from behind me a second later.  
  
"Hey, Rahn? I poked around what's her names corpse and found two red potions, two blue ones, and this quiver of arrows here," she said holding them up.  
  
"Let me guess, Calli was the one who fell from that portal?" said Kat.  
  
"Yup. She's the one," I told him, "That's good, Calli. We don't need the arrows though, so you can leave those." She nodded and pocketed the potions, then tossed the quiver back at Blood Raven's dead carcass. I turned back to Kat, but noticed that Floria had an arrow loaded and pointed at Calli. Probably thought that by the way she looks that she's a demon. Kat must have noticed too, because he put his hand up and lowered her bow.  
  
"It's okay, Floria. Calli is on our side."  
  
"Oh.I'm sorry, it's just with the wings and the tail."  
  
"It's okay," said Calli, "Happens all the time. I'm used to it," she said with a smile. One disaster averted I guess.  
  
"We should probably get moving to join the others," I suggested.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I can't stand graveyards," Kat said with a slight shiver.  
  
"Funny. I thought paladins were practically fearless," Floria said with a smug look on her face.  
  
"Hey, I just started today. Give me a break. Rahn, shut up," he said quickly. I had my mouth half-open about to make a joke on what he said.  
  
"Okay, Kat. I won't call you a Kit Kat Bar," I said grinning. Calli snickered a little, and Floria just looked puzzled to what I said. Kat, however, was perfectly replicating the look my mom gives me when I've said something smart-ass like.  
  
"Let's just go" he said with a moan. I grinned triumphantly, but he'll get me back later, I know it. We exited the graveyard and went back to the Cold Plains. Hopefully the others were doing okay on their end.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Third Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"You mean we have to go through THERE?!" yelled Bell as she pointed at a cave entrance on the side of a cliff they just came to.  
  
"The path leads directly into it and, like Rahn said, we have to follow the path to get to the monastery," stated Nokame. It had been about thirty minutes, and many groups of Fallen, Corrupt Rogues; and three new enemies; Skeletons, Goatmen, and Blood Hawks, since they left the stones, and were now here at a cave entrance.  
  
"I say we draw straws like the first time," suggest C-4, "I don't think Bell wants to be the first to go into another cave."  
  
"Sounds good to me" said Serena as she plucked different lengths of grass from the ground. The four drew straws, and Nokame ended up with the shortest.  
  
"Well.can I demand a recount?"  
  
"No" the others answered simply. Nokame sighed, and motioned for two skeletons that he summoned to follow him. He entered the cave and took a look around. It didn't have a tint of red like the Den of Evil did, and Nokame breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Maybe this place doesn't have any monsters in it?" he said to himself. Suddenly, a giant ball of electricity shot forth and knocked him into the cave wall. Nokame groaned in pain as he slowly slid off the wall to the ground. Tilting his head up, he saw a large, dog like creature moving towards him. It had horns protruding from its skull, and a long tongue hanging from its mouth. As Nokame started to get back up to face this creature, it started charging up a ball of electricity in its mouth.  
  
"Oh shit!" Nokame yelled and attempted to dodge, but the creature had fired and the blast was hurling towards him. It was about to hit when one of the skeletons jumped in the way and took the hit, exploding into a million pieces.  
  
"Phew." Nokame sighed and looked at the remains the skeleton. He quietly thanked it, then charged at the creature. Using his wand, he gave it a sound thwack to its skull. It reared back a bit, only to be attacked the second skeleton. It roared loudly then bit the skeleton in half, successfully falling it. The creature then started moving towards Nokame, forcing him to step back until he was once again against the wall.  
  
"Oh no.is this how I go? Not going down in a blaze of glory?" Nokame was panicking. He only knew how to summon skeletons, he didn't know any other spells, and hitting it with a stick that has the size of a stick wouldn't do any good. He shut his eyes and threw his hands in front of himself as the dog like creature lunged at him. Then suddenly, a large rippling arrow shot forth from his wand and hit the creature, piercing through its head and shooting out the back in a spray of blood.  
  
It fell to the ground dead, blood pouring through the gaping hole in its skull. Nokame slowly opened his eyes and saw the dead beast. He let his guard down and looked around; nobody else in the cave.  
  
"Did.did I do that?" he asked himself as he examined the beast.  
  
"Hey, Nokame! You alive in there!?" called C-4 from the cave entrance some distance away.  
  
"We heard some kind of a scuffle in there, are you alright!?" called Bell.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine! It's clear to come in!" he called back. The others walked inside and came upon Nokame, who was examining the dead creature.  
  
"Good Lord." said Serena, "Nokame, what did you do to it?"  
  
"I don't know. It was lunging at me, and I threw my hands up to guard, and.I don't know what happened after that"  
  
"Why didn't you just use your shield to block it?" asked C-4.  
  
"Whoops!" Nokame sweatdropped, "I.forgot about that." He said with a grin. The other three face faulted to the ground, and quickly got back up.  
  
"Well, I guess we should move on," said Serena. Everyone agreed and left, but not before Nokame made a new skeleton from the dead creature, and proceeded on into the cave.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* First Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Wow, look at all the rocks around here," said Kat.  
  
"Well, that's one reason they call it Stony Field," I told Kat.  
  
"Hey, Rahn? How far ahead do you think the others are?" asked Calli.  
  
"I don't know.they have definitely been this way because there are dead Fallen and Carvers all over the place" I told her.  
  
"Anyone else notice that the Carvers are blue versions of the Fallen?" asked Kat.  
  
"They are a stronger version of Fallen," said Floria, "They are somewhat more difficult to kill."  
  
"greeeaaat."  
  
As we walked on down the path, the sky had finally turned pitch dark. Kat and Calli could see just fine because Kat was a cat and they can all see good in the dark, and Calli because she was part demon and vampire. Me, I could just use my telepathy and scan ahead of me. However, Floria was blind as a bat, so we picked up of a small branch from a tree we passed and lit it for her. We walked on for another little bit, keeping our eyes and ears open for any kind of presence. It was very very quiet, like when we first arrived here. No crickets, no owls.nothing.  
  
"Is.the game always like this?" asked Calli. I shook my head.  
  
"No.it was never this quiet. There was usually an owl hooting or some crickets chirping."  
  
"I could really go for some crickets right now, I'll tell you that much" she said. We all slowly stopped and looked at her, and she just shrugged. "What?"  
  
"Uh.nothing" I told her.  
  
"Hey, what's that over there?" Kat got our attention and pointed to something in the distance.  
  
"What do you see?" Floria asked him.  
  
"I don't know.I can't make it out. Looks like five pillars of some kind," he told her.  
  
"I think I know.come on, let's go" I said as I walked off the path and towards where Kat was pointing. Everyone else followed, and a few minutes later, we came across five large pillars of rock with a strange symbol on each of them.  
  
"I thought so.the Cairn Stones," I said to myself. I looked around and saw the dead bodies of the Carvers lying about. "Looks like they've been here."  
  
"If your friends have been here, then Akara must have sent them to rescue Cain," Floria told us.  
  
"Cain? Whose that?" asked Calli.  
  
"I think you mentioned him before, didn't you Rahn?"  
  
"Yeah, when we first got here and I told you about the game. Last of the Horadrim Mage Clan, the very same clan that sealed Diablo and his brothers in the soul stones," I told them.  
  
"Excuse me, but.what do you mean by game," Floria asked me. I slowly turned my attention from the stones to her.  
  
"Guess it can't be kept secret forever. In the world where we come from, this whole thing is a game. You'd take on the roll of a certain character, and fight through the hordes of demons to slay Diablo. It explains pretty much everything about this world basically," I told her, "I'm the only one who has played it, so I'm pretty much the resident expert as to what we're up against for the time being."  
  
"So.my whole world is.a game?" she asked me with a depressed look on her face. I was afraid of this.  
  
"Where we come from, yes. But.this right now is real, not a game. So don't worry" I told her.  
  
"We should probably turn in for the night or something.it's been dark for a good few hours now, and lugging around all this armor and stuff has made me tired" Kat stated. I looked up at the sky and the position of the moon. It was a quarter moon.not too long before a full moon. I looked at Calli and she was poking away at a dead carver with a stick. We'll have to make sure she stays somewhere where she can't see the full and new moons while we're here.  
  
"Well, Kat," I said bringing myself back to reality, "pull out a town portal scroll, and we'll head back and turn in for the night." Kat nodded and reached into a satchel he was carrying. After a few seconds, his face went pale and he was feeling around in the bag furiously. This can't be good.  
  
"Uh.guys? I think I lost the scrolls.and some of the gold" he told us. After some inspection, we found a hole in the satchel, more than likely caused when we were in the burial grounds earlier.  
  
"Looks like we're staying the night here," said Floria.  
  
"I think I can make up for it," said Kat. About thirty minutes later, we were all leaning against one of the cairn stones with a blanket around us, full from the meal Kat made in compensation for losing the scrolls. I swear, I don't know how he can hold so many things in those pockets of his, but I'm glad he can. Good thing he had blankets too. But, he's gonna run out of food in those eventually.  
  
The fire he made the meal on was slowly dying away, and I felt my eyes grow heavy. Letting out a small yawn, I snuggled into my blanket as deep as I could. It was rather cold out.you could tell that winter was approaching. As I was about to slip off to sleep, I felt something lean against me and wrap something over me. Opening one eye, I saw Calli leaning against me with her eyes closed, snuggled in her blanket, and her wings wrapped around the both of us. I smiled a bit, leaned my head on hers, and fell to sleep.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Third Person *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
A Fallen fell to the ground with a gaping and bleeding hole in its chest, along with all the other Fallen that were standing behind it. Nokame gave a small smirk. They had finally figured out what Nokame used on that monster earlier, but they didn't know the name of the spell. Something they'd have to ask Akara. In fact, they should ask her if she has a whole book that 'lists' the spells.  
  
"That's the last of them," said Bell as she wiped the sweat from her brow. C-4 weakly pulled his hand axe from the body of a slain Shaman.  
  
"Man.I never thought I'd get so tired." he said as he slowly walked to were Bell and Nokame were.  
  
"Me too." said Serena as she slowly walked towards them, "I'm about to run out of javelins, I've only got five left."  
  
"Guess we'll have to go back to the camp and restock on them, huh?" said Bell. C-4 yawned loudly.  
  
"Can we do that later? I'm beat." he said tiredly.  
  
"I don't see why not," said Nokame.  
  
"Well where are we gonna sleep?" asked Serena. They all look around for a minute when Bell caught site of a not very noticeable path that led past a small crevice in the wall.  
  
"What about there? I don't think any of those giant dog demons we've been finding down here, not anything else, could get through there," she said.  
  
"Works for me," said Serena. Leaving the little cave encampment that the now dead Fallen had set up, they went into the small crevice of the wall. Upon getting through, they discovered a fairly large area with a few wooden barrels. After everyone took off their armor and found a spot to settle down, C-4 took apart some of the barrels for fire wood, and Bell used a firebolt to make the fire. After a few minutes of talking and planning on what to do tomorrow, C-4 went to one corner of the area, sat down, and fell to sleep leaning on a barrel. Serena was also sitting nearby asleep. Nokame was sitting with his back to the cave wall about to fall asleep when Bell came over and sat next to him.  
  
"Mind if I crash here?" she asked him.  
  
"Uh.no, not at all" he replied. Bell smiled then leaned up against him.  
  
"Hope you don't mind this time, but I'm going to use you as a pillow" she told him. Nokame actually didn't mind it the first time she fell asleep on him when they were on the shuttle to the ARK when everyone first met.  
  
"uh.sure, I don't mind" he told her, but Bell had already passed out asleep. Nokame sighed and closed his eyes, slowly drifting to sleep with Bell next to him.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Finally, chapter four is done. Longest one yet! I know there wasn't much action near the end of it, but that will change next chapter, when C-4, Bell, Nokame, and Serena finally find the Scroll of Inifuss and make it to Tristram. One big slaughter fest! As for my group, well, if there are any Diablo II veterans reading this, then you should be able to take a guess as to the quest that we will undertake. Review and tell me what you think so far, and I'll see you all next chapter!  
  
Rahn (Mechabot VII) 


End file.
